US says, it has sent a Marine Corps artillery battery into Syria to help defeat the Islamic State terror group (IS) in Raqqa. Quoting a Pentagon spokesman AFP said, several hundred Marines have deployed into Syria with artillery guns, as part of the ongoing preparation for the fight to push IS out of its self-declared headquarters of Raqqa.
The move marks a significant step for conventional US forces in Syria. The artillery will allow the Marines to help support the SDF offensive, which has been gradually closing in on Raqa. Currently, the United States has limited its ground troops to about 500 special operations fighters whose job has been to train and assist the SDF, a local Arab-Kurdish alliance fighting IS.